Socially

INU- Amnesty International published a video yesterday of former Iranian prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi from December 1988, where he distorts the truth about the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, in response to public debate about the extent to which Mousavi and his government knew about the 30,000 executions that took place in the so-called “summer of blood”.

The national currency of Iran – the rial – has lost value rapidly over the past year. One unfortunate consequence of this is that the people of Iran have faced further suffering and more and more people are falling into extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as conditions in which people cannot afford or access the most basic of human amenities including food, clean and potable water, sanitary facilities, shelter, social services and information.

With unemployment and an economy on the verge of collapse in Iran, working as a border porter or “kolbar” has become an important means of supporting a family in Iran’s western cities that border Iraq and Turkey.

Unemployment rates have reached as high as 40% among the youth In Kurdistan province, and many young people have turned to this occupation. However, it is not only young people.

INU- On Tuesday, the Center for Human Rights in Iran published a thorough report on the legislation that is currently awaiting introducton to the Iranian parliament which would bring the Iranian internet into even greater government control. The report consists of a general synopsis and an itemized analysis of the four chapters making up a bill whose existence was formerly denied by Iranian officials.

INU- Farmers in the Isfahan region were wealthy and prosperous, when the Zayanderud River flowed down from the Zagros Mountains to water the region. Since the river has dried up, it no longer provides water for farming towns like Qahdarijan. The regime’s mismanagement of water resources has caused these farmers to lose everything.